Brazil Negotiating for Moscow Loan to Build Railroad

SAO PAULO, Brazil — The Brazilian government is negotiating for a Soviet loan to build a $250 million railway in the northeastern states of Pernambuco and Ceara, government officials said Tuesday.

A senior official in the Pernambuco state government, Marisa Figueira, told reporters by telephone from Recife: "The Soviet Union is interested in financing this railway, but no contract has been signed yet."

No comment was available from the Soviet Embassy in Brasilia.

Pernambuco officials said the 210-mile railway would link Petrolina in Pernambuco to Morada Nova in Ceara. It would transport agricultural produce such as soya.

Brazil has had difficulty securing foreign loans, partly because it suspended interest payments on its $70 billion foreign bank debt last February.